Only A Dream
by Wet Lapras
Summary: Daryl's deceased abusive father pays him an all too real unwelcome visit one night. I did this one in celebration of my favorite month of the year, the witching month, OCTOBER!. HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone, may this October be the best one so far! Perfectly safe for all, some language, nothing 99.9% of all the people on Earth have not used at some point in their lives, the other 1%


Daryl's deceased abusive father pays him an all too real visit one night.

 _Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or any of the characters sadly._

It was the middle of the very dark night, no lights shone tonight, not even the silvery light of the moon reached the bedroom where Daryl and Carol were sleeping.

It was silent, almost too silent, when Daryl woke up, or at least he thought he woke up.

His eyes snapped open, his first instinct was to look to his side to check Carol was ok, but he realised very quickly he could not move. He tried and tried again in vain to move just a pinky finger or a toe, but nothing. He was awake, how could this be? He wanted to reach out and wake Carol up, he was starting to freak out.

He started to feel very afraid, a feeling Daryl was not familiar with and hated very much, his chest felt heavy, this was wrong, very wrong.

The silence was broken by what Daryl's well tuned instincts told him were footsteps coming along the hallway outside the bedroom door, slow, heavy footsteps that stopped outside the door.

Daryl could just see the door frame from his paralyzed position in the bed, and the rim of light beginning to glow from the other side of it appeared to have a distinct green tinge to it.

Fear was rising inside his already heavy chest, what the fuck was going on?

He tried again and again to move, but nothing, his body was totally paralyzed.

Was he going to be stuck like this forever? OMG he was now so, so scared, but he could not move or show it at all.

The green light on the other side of the door was getting brighter, when suddenly the door began to creak open.

Daryl was screaming inside now, but his body remained silent and refused to move.

Then, as the green light began to spill into the pitch black bedroom, he saw bony fingers wrap around the door and push it open.

'BOY!' A voice called out, 'BOY!'

Daryl knew this voice...

It was his abusive father, the man who had beaten him and Merle and his mother and tormented him and stolen his childhood away.

This man had taken so much away from Daryl and his family.

He was dead, he was supposed to be dead.

There he was though, standing in front of Daryl right at the end of the bed.

His face was almost a skull, he reached out a bony arm towards terrified Daryl, who was using all of his non existent energy on trying to scream, trying to move, anything would be a start.

'BOY, I SHOULD HAVE FINISHED YOU WHILE I HAD THE CHANCE!'

his father's unmistakable voice billowed in his ears as he walked closer to the bed.

'NOW I AM GOING TO END YOU BOY!'

'YOU USELESS PIECE OF SCUM!'

Daryl was convinced this was it, he was about to die. He was so afraid now that he felt his mind begin to shut down, like his senses were checking out before the moment happened.

His father got on top of Daryl and sat on his chest, Daryl could almost smell the evil as he started helplessly into his father's empty eye sockets, he was almost a skeleton. Death had had it's way with him that was for sure.

Daryl felt his father's bony hand wrap around his neck, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't scream, he couldn't move.

The bared bones of his father's fingers cut into his skin.

Carol was still peacefully sleeping next to him.

As his father's hand squeezed tighter, his thoughts drifted to Carol and how much he loved her.

He wanted to say goodbye, his terror morphing into deep sadness as the eerie green glow enveloped the bed.

'DIE, DIE YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT BOY!' DIE DIE DIE LIKE YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER'.

The voice of his father was so distinct, so unmistakable.

Just as his father wrapped both of his bony hands around Daryl's throat, just as Daryl felt sure this strangled breath would be his very last, and he would leave this world, and the love of his life, Carol, forever, almost in an instant, his father vanished and he was able to move.

He absolutely freaked out, waking Carol right the hell up as he shot up and out of that bed like a bat out of hell.

'What on Earth is going on?! Carol gasped, quickly sitting upright.

'Daryl? Daryl hun are you okay?'

Unable to see him, she heard him mumbling and sobbing uncontrollably in the darkness.

Unsure of where he was, she turned on the bedside light.

Daryl was sitting huddled right in the corner of the room, his whole body was shaking, he was breathing so fast it was like he'd been running for a while, his face covered in sweat and tears.

'Daryl, oh my god, What happened sweetie?'

Carol quickly got out of bed and went over to him.

'Not now, please not now' Daryl sobbed, obviously not wanting to recall the ordeal just yet.

'Is it another one of those nightmares?' Carol asked him in a quiet voice.

'No, I wish it was, I wish it was' he sobbed, his voice shook as much as his body.

'Here, come here' Carol held out her hand and helped him off the floor.

'Give me a minute, please' he said as he went into the bathroom and closed the door.

When he came out, he'd obviously dried his eyes a bit and cleaned himself up.

He hated feeling like this.

He could not shake what had just happened to him.

He sat on the edge of the bed, Carol sat next to him and gently ran her arm across his back and pulled him towards her and held him tight.

Daryl didn't struggle or push her away, he was way too exhausted.

'Talk about it later' he said, his voice very quiet.

'Don't want to sleep anymore' he told Carol.

'There's no peace in sleep for me, I may as well stay awake till I die from lack of sleep' he said, sounding very resigned.

Carol understood this, she'd pulled him from too many nightmares by now.

He got into bed and lay down next to her, she pulled the blanket around him. The terror of the night's events had left him feeling very cold, in more ways than one, but he appreciated the warmth of her body as always. She kept him warm in so many ways, he felt complete when he was with Carol.

He needed Carol right now, she knew that as he lay there and let her slowly stroke his forehead.

He calmed right down, realizing that what had just happened was only a dream.

Or was it?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone, hope you enjoyed this.

Was a tad rushed though, so go easy on me lol.


End file.
